Owning your own home

I'm not against restoring the sashes if it's cost effective (particularly if it's less disruptive as I need to arrange access to the back of the house with downstairs) but they are fairly knackered. I would prefer double glazing though, which doesn't appear to be an option with sashes.

Is there anyone you'd recommend in North London (Harringay area) for sashes? Cheers

My new place smells like wet dogs and the vendor didn't even attempt to clean.

All boxes and furniture is going downstairs and tomorrow the carpets come up and the sanding begins.

Double glazed, wooden sash windows.....

http://www.boxsash.com/#Wood-Windows-Which-Trusted-Trader

As @Jonte says, you can get double glazed sash windows, which are ideal. The only downside is the cost: a friend (in Harringay actually) just got a quote for their house, £30k.

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My brother had his floors sanded. He reckons you need to block off any parts of the house you want kept clean with plastic sheets and masking tape and even with a facemask you will have sawdust snots for a few days.

They wish! Normal house on the ladder, albeit a whole house. I don't know if that's a pricey quote, needless to say they can't afford it.

I'll have pretty much half as many windows as them then, I think £15k may be a little too rich for me.

When ours were done the process was entirely dust free.

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That's daft money for the windoze. Round these ends (Cambridge) you can get a perfect job for less than £1500 a window.

You can often just get new sashes made for the existing frames for even less than that.

Or just Velfac the shit out of the house.

I have ten windows though so that works out at £15k for my flat ...

http://www.screwfix.com/p/stormguard-self-adhesive-brush-pile-weatherstrip-white-15m/30322

Someone will want to downsize a 2br for a 1br... right... ?

That's a lot of windows for a flat. Brick some up?

Maybe, I did exactly that last year, though the one bed has a garden and a communal bike store so ultimately I sort of gained space.

Sash Windows. I've been paying around £900 for sash windows from the London Sash Window company where I'm replacing sashes in loft extensions. I usually specify wood effect pvc as it looks a bit more natural. The installation is where most companies let themselves down and the guys I use are not that great either, I'm always able to tidy the finish up when they've left but generally these guys just want to get in, rip the old windows out and bosh in the new ones as fast as possible. Most of the materials and methods they use to achieve this finished result at speed are sub par in the medium to long term.

Generally the cost of refurbishing and weatherstripping a sash window is around £900, I've known them to cost more if the entire window needs stripping to the wood, i.e. all the glass removed and replaced with new putty. You may also have to pay a little more if you want the surrounds renovated too. That cost usually includes the inside of the sashes. Quite often sash windows are not in as bad condition as the owner thinks. I usually remove the sashes and replace with ply wood, then the windows are renovated/painted in a workshop, it means no need for scaffolding and access is only required from the interior.

Be very careful with wooden double glazing, it's often badly designed and leads to the double glazed units 'blowing', there are lots of technical reasons for this but the repair market hates wooden double glazed units. I've repaired lots of these units and they are very often a dogs dinner, of course I get to see the worst ones as they are the ones that need repairing! If you do decide to have wooden double glazed sashes, make sure you keep up the maintenance, especially the sealant between the glass and beading, if that seal breaks down or the beading rots the double glazed unit usually blows in short order.

I don't know anyone else that does the job the way I do in other areas, they are bound to exist but like me they probably have a business based on word of mouth or recommendation. I have had clients wait 3 years to have me renovate their windows because they have seen my work locally. Normally I get round to it faster than that!

Professional weatherstripping kits are available from Reddiseals (google them), there are other firms but I have settled on Reddiseals after trying a few others. Generally you need a router to install the weatherstripping on the sash but you can buy the sash and parting bead with the routed groove and weatherstrip in place if you need it that way.

Most people are intimidated by sash windows but they are quite simple elegant designs which are designed to be made and repaired with simple victorian tools. Of course most professionals are using much more modern equipment and materials these days but you can still fix a lot of common problems with a few basic tools. It's rarely necessary to completely replace a sash window, in general modern wood stock is not as stable as the aged pine and any damaged areas can be replaced with an epoxy resin.

I'll try not to hog the thread with massive posts about sash windows, if people are interested in how to carry out an inspection of a sash window for common problems and to establish what needs repairing and how it's done I could try and write a description.

Be very careful with wooden double glazing, it's often badly designed and leads to the double glazed units 'blowing'

Can you not design this out by using plant on muntins / glazing bars like Mumford & Wood sash windows, for example? Granted they don't look exactly the same as a trad sash window but I think most people would be hard pushed to tell the difference.

You know Plusnet is owned by BT, right?

As with 6pt, that's not my experience either.

Although that is the modern way to match the original sash pattern and the glazing bars themselves can't cause a problem with the double glazed unit, the frame still can, and it's the lower part of the window where most of the water that runs down the glass collects which always rots first. There are well known best practices for bedding in and sealing double glazed units in wood, and the trade is improving because it's more popular but lack of a proper maintenance schedule will lead to them rotting and can lead to the double glazed unit being damaged. Then the whole DG (sorry but it gets boring typing double glazed all the time) unit needs to be replaced which involves disturbing all the beading then properly sealing them again. Unlike a normal pane of glass where the putty hardens and drops out, worst case scenario the glass has to come out, normally it's just a repair to the glazing bar, re-putty and paint again.

Having said all this I made a back door for my own place in hardwood with double glazing. I left a 5mm gap around the dg unit using plastic blocks and sealed the beading inside and out with an appropriate sealant. I'll also be able to keep an eye on the paintwork, especially on the beading. It's also easier with doors because access is generally easy.

There are new types of dg unit arriving at normal glass outlets which can be thinner than the old standard 4/6/4 which should allow more direct replacement sashes to be made. However you still have to counterbalance the weight. Having given the subject a lot of thought I am still recommending weatherstripping and insulated curtains to my clients.

I hate wallpaper.

That is all.

All my belongings are in the lounge and dining room.
I put a plastic curtain on the inside of the door. Closed the door. Then masking taped the gaps and taped a plastic sheet seal over the whole door frame.

Fucking glad I did.

Been sanding since 9am.
Have done two double bedrooms and the landing and everything is COVERED in saw dust.

Just the stairs to do tomorrow.

Living here while we do it...

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